On the recordMarch 19, 2010
I rise in support of Women's History Month. And I am proud to call Congresswoman Woolsey my friend. We don't agree on many issues, but we agree on many history issues. We worked together on Angel Island. I appreciate her leadership here. She's been a passionate advocate for women's rights in this House. But I want to talk more in depth about what most of America is looking at right now--and that's the foot in the door for the takeover of health care. There are several parts that directly relate to Medicare and retirement. First off, I was not here when they passed Medicare, nor was I here when they passed Social Security. What other people did is other people's business. But what I see in this bill is 13 percent of Americans now say they're confident of their retirement. But without anything in committee, in some kind of magical formula in the last few years, they've raised the taxes to 3.8 percent on unearned income, which is a direct attack on those who've saved for annuities in America. We have spent years trying to encourage people to save. Now, at the last minute, we're going to dump an additional tax on them, already concerned about whether they're going to be able to survive as they hit their older age. I'm happy to represent Lincoln Financial, which has 1,900 jobs in the annuity industry in my district. You just wonder: How many jobs is this bill going to kill? It is incredible what is being done in this bill.
